PolitiFact has picked its lie of the year: Mitt Romney’s ad implying Ohio jobs would be shipped overseas because Barack Obama “sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China.”
In Michigan, A Conservative Governor Takes Careful Aim at Unions
Rick Snyder is at the center of the newest battle in the GOP war against labor unions that has raged across the industrial Midwest in recent years.
In the ArenaIn the Arena
Petraeus, Yin and Yang
We have new evaluations of David Petraeus this week, in New York Magazine and the New Yorker. The New Yorker piece is by the great war correspondent and author, Dexter Filkins. The New York piece is by former theater critic Frank Rich. They couldn’t be more different.
Entitlement Cuts Loom as Obstacle to Fiscal Cliff Deal
Obama has expressed willingness to cut a deal that scales back federal entitlements, but many Democrats are loath to agree to cuts.
Chained CPI: Is Changing the Government Inflation Formula the Secret to a Deficit Deal?
Washington is full of speculation this week as Democrats and Republicans examine different ways to cut spending, raise revenue and reform entitlements to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff.” One policy getting more attention is a new way for the government to calculate inflation.
5 New Obamacare Taxes Coming in 2013
Starting next year, five new tax increases will begin to raise $258.2 billion in new revenue over seven years.
Rift at Tea Party Group Reveals Questions about Movement’s Direction
The messy split this week between Dick Armey and the Tea Party organization FreedomWorks may be a harbinger of things to come.
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A Modest Proposition
This week’s print column: How you can mesh Obamacare with Medicare, save money and improve health care–and get Republican support.
Jim DeMint to Resign Senate Seat for Heritage Foundation
South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, an ardent voice for conservative principles, announced Thursday that he is resigning from Congress to become president of the Heritage Foundation, a top conservative think tank in Washington.
Paul Ryan’s Rough Return
Paul Ryan’s in a bind. Even as he’s being touted as the great white hope for the GOP in 2016, he’s voluntarily strapped himself to the party’s fast-sinking position on the fiscal cliff as a member of House Speaker John …
Gas Mask: Why Is Chemical Warfare Obama’s ‘Red Line’ in Syria?
Assad has been slaughtering innocents for months. Why draw the line at poison gas?
Susan Rice and the Modern Secretary of State
With the days of grand strategy long gone, talking points happen to be a big part of the job
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Whither the Repubs?
Lamar Alexander. Saxby Chambliss. Lindsey Graham. What do they have in common? Well, they’re all members of the Republican Senate sanity caucus (except for Graham’s occasional flights of neocon fantasy). And each may be facing a crazy-nut rightwing challenge in 2014.